When Panini landed the NHL/NHLPA license to produce hockey cards earlier this year, I admit I was of two minds. Part of me was afraid Panini would do the same thing with hockey that they’re currently doing with football and basketball: Products that have no real pizzaz, tons of inserts and parallels with designs that are uninspired at the best.
While I’m not quite ready to give Panini a full pass for 2010-11 hockey, I will say that early looks at 2010-11 Certified Hockey is promising, especially with some of the wrinkles that they’re adding to the product.
Release Date: September 22, 2010
Price Point: $10/pack or $80/box at Blowout Cards.
Product Loadout: 5 cards per pack, 10 packs per box, 8 boxes per case.
Hit Ratios: Each box will contain four autos or memorabilia cards with at least one guaranteed autograph. Also, each box will contain a Mirror Red parallel and four additional parallels or inserts.
Product Information:
- 188 card base set (rookies #’d)
- Certified Potential (18 cards)
- Masked Marvels (25 cards)
- Certified Top Choice (12 cards)
- Certified Champions (25 cards)
- Collision Course (10 cards)
- Awaiting The Call (10 cards)
- Certified Legends (12 cards)
Autographs, Relics and Parallels:
- Mirror Red (#’d to 250)
- Mirror Blue (#’d to 100)
- Mirror Gold (#’d to 25)
- Mirror Emerald (#’d to 1)
- Mirror Black (1/1)
- Platinum Red (#’d to 999)
- Platinum Blue (#’d to 250)
- Platinum Gold (#’d to 25)
- Platinum Emerald (#’d to 5)
- Platinum Black (1/1)
- Mirror Gold Signatures (#’d to 25 or less)
- Mirror Emerald Signatures (#’d to 5 or less)
- Mirror Black Signatures (1/1)
- Mirror Red Materials Jerseys (#’d to 250 or less)
- Mirror Red Dual Materials (#’d to 250 or less)
- Mirror Blue Materials Jerseys (#’d to 100 or less)
- Mirror Gold Materials Prime (#’d to 25 or less)
- Mirror Emerald Materials Prime (#’d to 5 or less)
- Mirror Black Materials Prime (1/1)
- Mirror Ice Materials Prime (1/1)
- Fabric of the Game (150 cards)
- Fabric of the Game Prime (#’d to 25 or less)
- Fabric of the Game Jersey Number (#’d to 25 or less)
- Fabric of the Game Jersey Number Signatures (#’d to 25 or less)
- Fabric of the Game Jersey Number Prime (#’d to 10 or less)
- Fabric of the Game Jersey Number Prime Signatures (#’d to 10 or less)
- Fabric of the Game NHL Die Cut (#’d to 25 or less)
- Fabric of the Game NHL Die Cut Prime (#’d to 10 or less)
- Fabric of the Game Team Die Cut (#’d to 25 or less)
- Fabric of the Game Team Die Cut Prime (#’d to 10 or less)
- Big Men on Campus (15 cards)
- Big Men on Campus Signatures (#’d to 5 or less)
- Big Men on Campus Prime (#’d to 25 or less)
- Big Men on Campus Prime Signatures (#’d to 5 or less)
- Shirt Off My Back Combos (15 cards)
- Shirt Off My Back Combos Signatures (#’d to 5 or less)
- Shirt Off My Back Combos Prime (#’d to 25 or less)
- Shirt Off My Back Combos Prime Signatures (#’d to 5 or less)
- Junior Legacy Combos (20 cards)
- Junior Legacy Combos Signatures (#’d to 5 or less)
- Junior Legacy Combos Prime (#’d to 25 or less)
- Junior Legacy Combos Prime Signatures (#’d to 5 or less)
- Certified Potential Mirror Red (#’d to 250 or less)
- Certified Potential Mirror Blue (#’d to 100 or less)
- Certified Potential Mirror Gold (#’d to 25 or less)
- Certified Potential Mirror Emerald (#’d to 5 or less)
- Certified Potential Mirror Black (1/1)
- Certified Potential Materials (#’d to 99 or less)
- Certified Potential Materials Prime (#’d to 10 or less)
- Certified Potential Materials Signatures (#’d to 25 or less)
- Certified Potential Materials Prime (#’d to 10 or less)
- Certified Potential Materials Prime Signatures (1/1)
- Masked Marvels Mirror Red (#’d to 250)
- Masked Marvels Mirror Blue (#’d to 100)
- Masked Marvels Mirror Red (#’d to 25)
- Masked Marvels Mirror Emerald (#’d to 5)
- Masked Marvels Mirror Black (1/1)
- Masked Marvels Materials (#’d to 99 or less)
- Masked Marvels Materials Prime (#’d to 10 or less)
- Masked Marvels Materials Signatures (#’d to 25 or less)
- Masked Marvels Materials Prime Signatures (1/1)
- Certified Top Choice Mirror Red (#’d to 250)
- Certified Top Choice Mirror Blue (#’d to 100)
- Certified Top Choice Mirror Gold (#’d to 25)
- Certified Top Choice Mirror Emerald (#’d to 5)
- Certified Top Choice Mirror Black (1/1)
- Certified Top Choice Signatures (#’d to 10 or less)
- Certified Top Choice Materials (#’d to 99 or less)
- Certified Top Choice Prime Materials (#’d to 25 or less)
- Certified Champions Mirror Red (#’d to 250)
- Certified Champions Mirror Blue (#’d to 100)
- Certified Champions Mirror Gold (#’d to 25)
- Certified Champions Mirror Emerald (#’d to 5)
- Certified Champions Mirror Black (1/1)
- Certified Champions Signatures (#’d to 50 or less)
- Certified Champions Materials (#’d to 99 or less)
- Certified Champions Materials Prime (#’d to 10 or less)
- Collision Course Mirror Red (#’d to 250)
- Collision Course Mirror Blue (#’d to 100)
- Collision Course Mirror Gold (#’d to 25)
- Collision Course Mirror Emerald (#’d to 5)
- Collision Course Mirror Black (1/1)
- Collision Course Signatures (#’d to 100 or less)
- Awaiting The Call Mirror Red (#’d to 250)
- Awaiting The Call Mirror Blue (#’d to 100)
- Awaiting The Call Mirror Gold (#’d to 25)
- Awaiting The Call Mirror Emerald (#’d to 5)
- Awaiting The Call Mirror Black (1/1)
- Awaiting The Call Signatures (#’d to 100 or less)
- Certified Legends Mirror Red (#’d to 250)
- Certified Legends Mirror Blue (#’d to 100)
- Certified Legends Mirror Gold (#’d to 25)
- Certified Legends Mirror Emerald (#’d to 5)
- Certified Legends Mirror Black (1/1)
- Certified Legends Signatures (#’d to 100 or less)
Yeah….I spoke too soon. Granted, this is how Certified has been for at least the past seven years, full of parallel levels with auto/relics strewn throughout. It’s also obvious that most of the set will be stickers, because how else are you going to get over 300 different signatures in a set? The insert sets actually don’t look half bad as far as the naming and overall design.
Let’s be totally honest though: No matter how many bloggers (myself included) rail against Panini’s product design and the sameness of their products, the bottom line is sales numbers. Obviously, Certified (and other products) are solid sellers, or we’d see a drastic change in the product. Now, while I know this all has sounded negative, it isn’t meant that way. For those of us who like Certified (and I don’t dislike the product as a whole, really), we know what to expect for hockey.
Now, there are some interesting additions to this, including Rookie Redemptions for players who aren’t even playing yet as well as Platinum Hot Boxes, where every card is a parallel. I like how the base Certified Champions cards look, and the Freshman Signatures (rookie auto cards) look like they just might be on-card. A number of the inserts (Big Men on Campus and Junior Legacy, to name two) are designed around the memorabilia card itself, and while I think they could go without signatures on these (especially Junior Legacy), they’re not bad at all.
All of this aside, I do think they made a mistake by adding yet another huge set of parallels with the ‘Platinum’ series of cards and the Mirror Ice. I’m not sure why these were needed, but … there they are. I’ll hopefully have a review of this product after its launch.
